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View Full Version : double filtration question please

danepatrick
05/08/2007, 11:06 AM
so i'm a total newbie with reefkeeping and just had a question about some filtering. i have a 20 gallon high with 130watts over it and i will be doing some softies and lps. i'm gonna get about 25+ lbs of liverock into it pretty soon. i already have a fluval 305 on it. in it i have two trays of 2 trays of seachem matrix, polyester filter floss, and purigen. i have an extra 304(305) and was thinking about stuffing it with biomedia. i don't plan on keeping a fuge, but I WILL do weekly water changes. would this be benificial and really help out the tank a lot? or would it be a waste of a filter? also, would keeping chunks of liverock in the filter be better than biomedia? i assume it would be about the same since inside a canister would be pitch black.
danepatrick
05/08/2007, 05:59 PM
bump
DeepBlueSea
05/08/2007, 06:20 PM
The fluval will soon become a nitrate factory... don't need it if your getting live rock in there.


Assuming your tank does not have any sort of overflow to the sump? Correct thought?

Never heard of putting live rock into a cannister... Personally I wouldn't try it...


Take all with a grain of salt because I'm not expert.
d4a2n0k
05/08/2007, 06:23 PM
IMO, scrap both filters and just add some powerheads. At the very least, take the filter floss out of the one you have now and use it for carbon/purigen only. Biological filters work great at breaking down Nitrites into Nitrates, which is fine for fish only, but will be a problem with corals as your Nitrates rise. And they will rise!

All you need is ~1 lb of live rock per gallon, a sandbed which will convert the Nitrates into Nitrogen gas and water flow.

Read this and as much info as possible before you jump in to avoid any un-neccesary expense. I find most pet shops are still recommending systems from 20 years ago and refuse to see the light.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=191688
danepatrick
05/08/2007, 09:32 PM
wouldn't weekly water changes bring the nitrate down? if you're not suppose to have biomedia, then why do people put bioballs in sumps? i'm a little confused.
Icefire
05/08/2007, 09:53 PM
bioballs are for non reef tank. FO or FOWLR only.
danepatrick
05/08/2007, 10:10 PM
ok so on reef tanks, biological filtration isn't important, right? it's mainly important to keep up with WCs? i do have a powerhead in the tank in addition to the filter.
DeepBlueSea
05/09/2007, 06:42 AM
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9905327#post9905327 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by danepatrick
ok so on reef tanks, biological filtration isn't important, right? it's mainly important to keep up with WCs? i do have a powerhead in the tank in addition to the filter.

Don't get this confussed... of course biological filtration is important, but it's the live rock and sand bed that handles it... You don't need an additional filter to handle it.

You can run a successful marine / reef system in just a tub of water if your willing to do the necessary water changes...